She reached out a hand as if to grab his, but lowered it—making her face tender and soft and bittersweet. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? We could have been working toward this for weeks. We could have tried to solve the riddle together. If I’d known what Nehemia was going to do, how she could lie to me again and again … She betrayed me. In every possible way, Hobbs . She lied to my face, made me believe …” Her shoulders slumped. After a long moment, she took a step toward him. “Nehemia was no better than Arobynn or Clarisse in the end. Hobbs , you should have told me. About everything. I knew it wasn’t Mullison—he wasn’t smart enough. If you’d told me, I could have taken care of it.” A risk—a leap of faith. “For you … For us, I would have taken care of it.”But Hobbs gave her a hesitant smile. “She spent so much time complaining about Councilman Mullison that I knew he’d be the easiest one to blame. And thanks to that competition, he already had a connection to Grave.”“Grave didn’t

She knew the shift had happened, because it hurt like hell. A flash of blinding pain as her features ripped free of the hold that hid them. The Assassin lunged, and she plummeted into the well of power that was suddenly overflowing inside of her.Skills , savage and unforgiving, erupted out of her, punching into the creature and sending it flying. Flame—years ago, her power had always manifested as some form of fire.She could smell everything, see everything. Her heightened senses pulled her attention every which way, telling her that this world was wrong, and she needed to get out now.But she wouldn’t get out, not until Bolton and Fleetfoot made it to safety.The creature stopped rolling, on its feet in an instant, and Mia put herself between it and Bolton . The Assassin sniffed at her, sinking onto its haunches.She lifted Damaris and bellowed her challenge.From far off in the mist, roars answered. One of them came from the thing in front of her.She looked at Bolton , still crou

Bolton watched blood bubble out of Hobbs ’s lips as Mia let him slump to the stone floor. She stared down at the body, her final words to him hovering in the air, running claws over Bolton ’s already chilled skin. She closed her eyes, tilting her head back as she took a long breath—as if she were embracing the death before her, and the stain it left as payment for her vengeance.He had arrived in time to hear Hobbs beg for his life—and utter the words that had been his last mistake. Bolton shifted his boot against the step to warn her that he was there. How much of her Dark knight senses did she retain when she looked like a human?Hobbs ’s blood spread across the dark stones, and Mia opened her eyes as she slowly turned to Bolton . The blood had soaked the ends of her hair, turning them a brilliant red. And her eyes … There was nothing there, as though she’d been hollowed out. For a heartbeat, he wondered if she would kill him, too—just for being there, for seeing the dark truth of h

When the council meeting was over, Luton did his best not to look at his father, who had been watching him so carefully while he’d announced his plans to the king, or at Christopher, whose sense of betrayal rippled off of him as the meeting went on. He tried to hurry back to the barracks, but he wasn’t all that surprised when a hand clapped on his shoulder and turned him around.“Mandy?” Christopher snarled.Luton kept his face blank. “If she’s capable of opening a portal like He did last night, then I think He needs to get out of the castle for a while. For all of our sakes.” Christopher couldn’t know the truth.“She’ll never forgive you for having her shipped off like that, to take down a whole country. And in such a public way—making a spectacle out of it. Are you mad?”“I don’t need her forgiveness. And I don’t want to worry about her letting in a horde of otherwordly creatures just because she’s missing her friend.”He hated each lie that came out of his mouth, but Christopher dr

For a heartbeat, there was only the warmth of Christopher’s mouth, the press of his body, the stiffness in his every trembling muscle as Nesta slanted her lips over his, rising onto her toes.She’d kissed him with her eyes open, so she could see precisely how his own widened.Nesta pulled away a moment later and found his eyes still wide, his breathing harsh.She laughed softly, making to unhook her fingers from his jacket and strut down the hall.She only got as far as lowering her right hand before he surged forward to kiss her back.The force of that kiss knocked them toward the wall, the stone slamming into her shoulders as all of him lined up against all of her, a hand sliding into her hair while the other gripped her hip.The moment Nesta hit that wall, the moment Christopher enveloped her, it destroyed any illusion of restraint. She opened her mouth, and his tongue swept in, the kiss punishing and savage.And the taste of him, like snow-kissed wind and crackling embers— She moa